Bear Digest

Ending of March Madness game draws comparisons to Chicago Bears' Hail Mary loss to Commanders

A Hail Mary pass at the end of a March Madness college basketball game was instantly compared to how the Chicago Bears lost to the Washington Commanders on a last-second touchdown. Ouch!
Lorin Cox|
Washington Commanders wide receiver Noah Brown (85) prepares to catch a game-winnning Hail Mary pass on the final play of the game against the Chicago Bears
Washington Commanders wide receiver Noah Brown (85) prepares to catch a game-winnning Hail Mary pass on the final play of the game against the Chicago Bears | Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

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The Chicago Bears still haven't lived down their last-second loss to the Washington Commanders on a Hail Mary touchdown.

They can't even escape the shame in another sport.

At the start of the NCAA men's basketball tournament, a last-second pass drew instant comparisons to the ending of Bears-Commanders.

The Alabama State Hornets and Saint Francis Red Flash faced off as two 16 seeds fighting their way into the March Madness bracket, and the game was tied with less than four seconds left.

Alabama State threw a full-court pass in Hail Mary fashion, and the Saint Francis defense failed to prevent a game-winning score. Sound familiar?

Like the Bears' defense, Saint Francis was able to deflect the pass in the air, but it was still caught by an Alabama State player who put it in the net to win the game.

While the Red Flash didn't have any defenders chirping at the crowd while the play was going on, that didn't stop clever social media users from inserting Tyrique Stevenson into the play.

Ouch.

It's going to take Stevenson a while to shake that moment from his reputation, and this one will stick with Saint Francis the next time they're in the final seconds of a close game.

It's too bad the defending teams didn't call a timeout in either situation.

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Lorin Cox
LORIN COX

Lorin Cox is the host of the Locked on Bears podcast and has been covering the Chicago Bears since 2016. He is a former analyst for Pro Football Focus and has written for NBC Sports Chicago and USA Today's Bears Wire. You can follow him on Twitter @CoxSports1.

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